59
defeats and only terse explanations were given (women's diving, 8 August, 1984; men's high jump, 13 August, 1984, women's fencing, 9 July, 1987; men's gymnastics, 26 August, 1985). Lengthy discussions of losses were rare but not totally absent (table-tennis upset, 25 and 26 September, 1986) Losses that were attributed to misguidance by coaches were also of a rare species, and it was only once in the overall commentary on the 1985 Universiade (6 September).
More often, the reasons for the losses were the faults of the players, their disobedience to coaches' advice (16 July, 1987). Usually, only poor performance was admitted. An exceptional case was that women fencers demonstrated poor conduct towards judges' decisions. But this “case” was only contained in one single sentence and contradicted with previous reports which stressed the “appropriate” behaviour exhibited by fencers towards questionable calls from judges (15 July, 1987)
Direct scolding of rivals could also be found. In a report on the shooting venue, almost one-third of the article was about the crowd noise (26 September, 1986). In athletics, the Japanese were said to have set a trap to the Chinese runner in 10,000m event (30 September, 1986) and another Japanese athlete was said to have exceeded her usual standard in her win (2 October, 1986), thereby casting doubts upon the fairness of Japanese victories. In the 1986 badminton competition, the linesmen and the service judge were named as "secret weapons" of the Korea team (30 September, 1986) defeating Chinese players.
When the situation proved to be face-enhancing to athletes or people other than those of China, different strategies were seen to portray them, The more frequently used ones are evasion and negative portrayal. The former employed a more passive way while the latter was in a much more active mode.
In some types of sports, there could be draws. In these events, there were cases in which Chinese athletes drew with their rivals However, while the Chinese press seldom missed out the victorious Chinese, the co-victors were often neglected Illustrations of this type of strategy could be found in the case of gymnastics
In 1984, Ma Yanhong of China came first in women's uneven bars, tying with American Julianne McNamara. But the press did not even mention that this was a tie, let alone the co-victor's name, in a lengthy
59
defeats and only terse explanations were given (women's diving, 8 August, 1984; men's high jump, 13 August, 1984, women's fencing, 9 July, 1987; men's gymnastics, 26 August, 1985). Lengthy discussions of losses were rare but not totally absent (table-tennis upset, 25 and 26 September, 1986) Losses that were attributed to misguidance by coaches were also of a rare species, and it was only once in the overall commentary on the 1985 Universiade (6 September).
More often, the reasons for the losses were the faults of the players, their disobedience to coaches' advice (16 July, 1987). Usually, only poor performance was admitted. An exceptional case was that women fencers demonstrated poor conduct towards judges' decisions. But this “case" was only contained in one single sentence and contradicted with previous reports which stressed the “appropriate” behaviour exhibited by fencers towards questionable calls from judges (15 July, 1987)
Direct scolding of rivals could also be found. In a report on the shooting venue, almost one-third of the article was about the crowd noise (26 September, 1986). In athletics, the Japanese were said to have set a trap to the Chinese runner in 10,000m event (30 September, 1986) and another Japanese athlete was said to have exceeded her usual standard in her win (2 October, 1986), thereby casting doubts upon the fairness of Japanese victories. In the 1986 badminton competition, the linesmen and the service judge were named as "secret weapons" of the Korea team (30 September,
1986) defeating Chinese players.
When the situation proved to be face-enhancing to athletes or people other than those of China, different strategies were seen to portray them, The more frequently used ones are evasion and negative portrayal. The former employed a more passive way while the latter was in a much more active mode.
In some types of sports, there could be draws. In these events, there were cases in which Chinese athletes drew with their rivals However, while the Chinese press seldom missed out the victorious Chinese, the co-victors were often neglected Illustrations of this type of strategy could be found in the case of gymnastics
In 1984, Ma Yanhong of China came first in women's uneven bars, tying with American Julianne McNamara. But the press did not even mention that this was a tie, let alone the co-victor's name, in a lengthy
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.